Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

The Kathy Bulucous Memorial Collection, housed by the Augustana College Art Museum, consists
of some two dozen African art objects. Among these objects is a mask (see fig. 1) of unknown cultural
origin and of an unknown age. From the moment I first saw this mask, I was captivated. Carved from some
sort of wood and constructed of bold geometric forms, the mask can be visually segmented in into two
distinct parts: a section that is roughly rectangular and a section that is comprised of two hollow cylindrical
protrusions. The mask is about two feet long from the uppermost edge of the rectangular portion to the
lowermost edge of the cylinders, ten inches across, and approximately nine inches deep. The rectangular
portion of the mask is divided into two parts: a convex portion and a concave portion (to which the
cylindrical protrusions are attached). The concave portion of the mask is punctured in two places, resulting
in triangular holes that might have possibly served as eye holes. Between these triangulated openings is a
semicircular disk that juts perpendicularly from the relatively smooth and flattened concave surface. This
disk- shape is repeated at either side of the concave portion of the rectangular segment, dividing the concave
plane into two smaller rectangular shapes. Each of these two smaller rectangles houses one of the triangular
holes and another convex pyramidal shape.
The pyramidal shapes each possess two narrow, deep slits on their undersides, which resemble
nostrils. Reaffirming the nostril attribution, either side of each of the pyramidal “noses” has a delicately
formed curved line that is just barely visible in figure 1. The other section of the rectangular portion of the
mask is delineated from the convex plane by an obtruding, slightly rounded rectangular shelf that is
furrowed down the center. This furrow forms a straight line that is continued by the middle disk shape, and
again by the negative space between the two cylindrical protrusions. On either side of the furrow, a set of
three raised triangular shapes create one trapezoidal figure, and each triangular shape has three horizontal
lines carved at the widest part of the triangle. These two trapezoids are centered vertically in relation to the
“noses.”
While the aforementioned furrow/disk/negative space between cylindrical protrusions splits the
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